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Magnus Sellergren from the Swedish Gore Film Society had the opportunity to interview one of the master minds behind the upcoming documentary WHY HORROR. Please read the full interview below:

The world is full of creativity. That is certainly nothing new, but thanks to the digital age the odds for someone having their dream project realized has become much, much greater. Thanks to Kickstarter and Indiegogo (easily some of my fave websites) anyone can pitch their idea to the world and with a bit of luck get it financed. Being a believer in all things D.I.Y. I consider this a healthy and promising phenomenon and try to support interesting projects as much as my wallet allows me.

Tal Zimerman’s pretty known among horror fans as he’s not only a writer for both Rue Morgue Magazine and Fangoria, but also an authority when it comes to genre movie posters. I recently found out about his upcoming crowdsourced documentary Why Horror?, a look at the psychology behind this phenomenon, and immediately decided to jump on board. Ambitiously aiming to produce the most comprehensive documentary on the topic, Tal and Co. already amassed an impressive list of interviewees (George Romero, John Carpenter and Eli Roth just to mention a few), and plan to travel around the world in order to cover every aspects of this old phenomenon. Wanting to find out more as well as help spread the word, I sat down and sent off a couple of questions his way, to which he graciously replied.

1: So tell me a bit of the origins of the documentary. From my understanding it actually mutated from a different sort of concept.

TAL ZIMERMAN: Yes, that’s true. I wanted to shoot an hour for TV that focussed on Toronto, where I live. We would see how very horror-centric this city is, from festivals to famous shooting locations, to social activities and everything in between. There’s a pretty big horror community here and we all agree that we are spoiled rotten with things to do. The production company I approached, with whom I had worked on a comedy project, was kind of baffled by my outward horror fan persona. We got to talking about why I like horror, and why people in general, everywhere like horror. So we decided to abandon the local focus and go global and that a feature film exploring all these things was best for the scope of the idea.

2: You chose to have this crowdfunded. Considering the popularity of horror these days, did you consider having it produced by a studio? Was there any pitching for producers involved or did you immediately decide to go with Kickstarter?

TAL ZIMERMAN: I'm actually working with a great production company who specializes in TV comedy here in Canada. The feature length documentary format is new for all of us. There are producers on the project and they pitched it at a local documentary conference. We secured a broadcaster and managed to acquire a bit of funding for development. The Kickstarter idea came when we realized that the costs of travel and film clip licensing were going to require a lot of money. Almost everything that you saw in the demo was shot here in Toronto. To tell the story we really want to tell, we need to travel and we need to show movie clips.

3: You managed to amass a quite impressive list of people for this! Tell me a bit of that process.

TAL ZIMERMAN: Again that comes back to where the production is located. We have the Toronto International Film Festival and the Fan Expo, two enormous festivals that bring in top talent. Having attended both shows for over 10 years, you meet people who know people who can introduce you to people. Nothing is ever that easy, though. You still have to hustle and nag and beg. TIFF is especially tough because distribution companies fly in these directors to talk about the movie they are promoting and we're talking about horror in general. It helps to have people on the inside to get those kinds of interviews. Having an interesting subject matter helps, too. In reading the description of our movie, a lot of people want to express their ideas on the subject, so it's just a matter of getting our material into the right hands.

4: As far as I know, this is the first attempt at covering the psychology behind the horror phenomena. Has there been any real revealing surprises while conducting those interviews?

TAL ZIMERMAN: Lots. Without spoiling anything, I will say that spooking each other out is a very old custom. Reminding the people around us of our mortality goes back to pre-language civilization. Wanting to explain what's on the other side is a natural, human desire. Not all of us are content with what religion, or even science has to say about death. And the more you attempt to cover it up, or try to escape, the more abstract and creative the ways it bubbles to the surface are. That, and also the fact that John Carpenter is a huge video gamer. That blew my mind.

5: Considering some of the past high-brow snubbing of the genre, did you notice a change of attitude among the academics, or has there been some typical ”this is garbage and it turns children into serial killers” sentiments vented like back in the hysterical 80s?

TAL ZIMERMAN: Its funny, we have tried to find people who are vehemently opposed to horror, like a larger anti-horror sentiment, it's not there like it was in the 80s. We are getting individuals telling us that their parents or co-workers have voiced concerns about their mental health because of horror, and that they can't wait for our movie to help them explain their passion, but no big anti-horror movement to speak of. There was some interesting stuff happening when movies like SAW and HOSTEL came out, and the idiotic label "torture porn" reared its head, but that goes back ten years. In the time since, TV shows like DEXTER, TRUE BLOOD, and THE WALKING DEAD have brought horror to the mainstream and into people's houses – and they LOVE it. So the genre is really at its peak of popularity and that's another reason why now was the right time to do this film.

6: I agree. The timing’s perfect. Personally I’d like to know why this genre is so polarizing. (The only other form of cinema doing that being porn.) Do you have anything to share regarding that? Why do people either love it or hate it but rarely anything in between?

TAL ZIMERMAN: It's sort of designed to do that. It's safe to say that there are reactions to horror, both physical and mental, in everyone who sees it, but not everyone is going to enjoy that reaction. But anything that pushes boundaries, which is one of horror's main functions, is going to upset some people and delight others. Some people are naturally curious and adventurous. Others are content in the safety of their shells. It comes down to personality.

7: Also, covering the various aspects of horror all over the world. Have you noticed any big differences? With the exception of noticing Euro horror being a bit more ”arty” than the pragmatic US films I really can’t say I’ve studied it at any length, but are we afraid of different things?

TAL ZIMERMAN: We are most certainly afraid of different things, or at least, have very different ways of approaching our anxieties. In Japan, for example, there are several examples of folklore with haunted spaces and spirits trying to manipulate the living. These tie in to that society's family-related anxieties. In Australia, the vast emptiness of the deserts have created a fear of isolation, which has been the theme of many great Oz-horror films. In the end, though, it all comes back to the fear of death. How that fear is represented is very driven by local attitudes.

8: How much of the documentary is already finished? How are you looking to expand it with the crowdsourced budget?

TAL ZIMERMAN: It's hard to say, quantitatively, how much is finished. We have roughly 40 interviews, mostly with film-centric individuals. We still need to talk to art and literature historians, psychologists, and video game developers. We definitely know what we want to talk about, and a budget from crowdsourcing will, for example, allow us to show works of art in museums and galleries, as opposed to jpegs. It will give us the ability to talk to video game developers in Japan directly instead of just showing their works. The movie is definitely happening, but a little extra push can take us a long way.

9: As it is feature length: Will we see this having a theatrical release?

TAL ZIMERMAN: I hope so. It will appear on TV here in Canada next year, and we're hoping to show it at some festivals before that. We're shooting with the theatre experience in mind, so we're all hoping for a theatrical release.